At least three times on Friday, Al Jefferson set Corey Brewer up for a
perfect layup. At least two other times, Jefferson’s pass provided
Brewer with a wide open jumper. Brewer finished 2-9 FG, and Jefferson
was credited with but two dimes, one of them to Brewer. In other words,
Brewer hurried the bunnies Jefferson was pulling out of his hat for
him, going too strong on a pair of layup attempts and not assembling
the sort of silky flow on practically any of his jumpers that elicit
confidence that the ball is going to go in. For the season, Brewer now
has 95 makes in 271 attempts, or 35%. The hard part is that he’s
missing good shots.

NBA.com: Rudy posted his first dunk blog yesterday, and he said if
Dwight puts the basket at 12 feet, Dwight should just leave it there so
he can do his dunk. What do you think of that?

Gerald Green: I don’t know, I might see if they can raise mine to 13 feet. I think 12 feet might be a little too short for me.

NBA.com: Anything you want to say to the other guys?

Gerald Green: I don’t know if they knew, but I don’t know who won the
dunk contest last year. Who won it? I’m not really sure. I just want
those guys to know who won it last year. I think Dwight knows who won
it. I don’t know, but I’m just sayin’. Like I said, I’m going in as the
underdog. I like that battle.

The most recent example was this past off-season when Minnesota traded
its franchise player, Kevin Garnett, for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes,
Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff and two future
first-round selections. Although they received some cap relief and
Jefferson has been having a nice season, the Timberwolves have the
worst record in the Western Conference and could be hard pressed to
lure any top free agents.

Friday kicked off a four-game homestand for
the Wolves, who are at home most of this month, including Monday’s game
against Houston. Of their 12 games in February, only three are on the
road. The Wolves have just one road game, Feb. 12 at New Jersey, before
departing Feb. 26 for a two-game trip to Toronto and Cleveland.

He didn’t get named to the Western Conference All-Star Game, but our
big award should soothe his soul. The favorite nearly every week, he
averaged 27.8 points and 15.5 rebounds in the Wolves’ four games.

An afterthought amid the Timberwolves’ youth movement, Antoine Walker,
at 31, insists he has five or six years left in his career. "I’m not
ready to leave this game anytime soon," the former Heat forward said.
"Sometimes people get the wrong perception about that. In the process
of trying to teach guys, I’m still trying to play this game."